Travel and Hunger

The world will be a slightly edgier place this year for people who travel abroad.

There is an invisible stress on the faces of everyone.

The issue is world food prices, up perhaps 40% in the last year.  Some analysts put the figure higher, perhaps 55%.  The figures are for basics, such as grain, dairy, and cooking oil.

People are rioting, from Egypt to Haiti.  In other places the level of resentment, basic insecurity, and fear grows higher.

The factors behind the increase in food prices are difficult to control.

First, more basic grains are going into energy production, rather than food.  This is true of corn.

Second, it is said that the wealthy of India now want to eat meat, not grain, so a larger part of the huge grain production there is being diverted to meat production.

Third, transportation costs are rising, affecting all food prices, especially if the distribution chain is long distance and much freight is required.

And fourth, there are some climate changes that are adversely affecting former patterns of food production, especially drought where there has rarely been drought before.

There are few indicators that the situation will get better.  Probably it will get worse.  People are stressed in the wealthy countries, such as the US, about rising food prices.  Image the countries where the average person is getting by on $2/day.

The outlook is grim.  Many travelers will glimpse it, especially those wandering in the Third World.